Up until now, I’ve spent many an evening Skyping, IMing or Facebooking with friends and family back in the United States. Nonno and Nonna do not have Internet and are not computer-savvy (Nonna thinks computers are “diabolical”) but I’ve been stealing wireless from some unknown benefactor. I’ve often wondered if I should be spending my time differently since I’m in Florence. Maybe it’s a waste to be spending time on the Internet when I should be studying Italian, or reading up my surroundings, or going out on the town. But there comes a point where I just need to talk to someone familiar, or I have to express frustration or excitement, or just communicate what I’m experiencing.
Which is why I’m pretty devastated that I now don’t have Internet, thanks to an accident where my laptop now has a broken wireless adaptor. The school has Internet available in the computer lab but it doesn’t stay open late, and I have class all day then have to go home for dinner, after which going back to school is inconvenient. Not to mention the time difference means that communicating with people back home late at night is easier. It’s also going to affect when I do my schoolwork.
I’ve left my laptop at a computer store and I’m crossing my fingers that they can fix my wireless, although it may not be possible. It’s not likely they have the exact part I need in Italy for my American laptop, so I may have to go without for the next month and a half.
Maybe there’s a silver lining to this. I’m going to have to organize my time better, and I’ve already gone through a couple of books in the time I’d usually be online. But this is a small comfort. The internet is my lifeline to home — and right now I’m cut off.
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